Understanding the Strength of Reading Glasses

It’s important to select reading glasses that are comfortable, matches your personality, and works with the shape of your face. More importantly, you’ll want to make sure you are selecting reading glasses that have the correct magnification value. The strength of reading glasses strength is measured in diopters. This number indicates how powerful a lens is. Reading glasses typically start with a near vision, or NV, a strength of +1.0 and progress in strength by .25 diopters.

When recommending reading glasses for their patients, optometrists typically use a range based on different age groups. This range starts at +0.75 diopters (or magnification) for those ages 40 to 43. It progresses to + 2.5 for ages 58 and up.

As a word of warning, simply testing or trying on different reading strength glasses at a department store or pharmacy may not be the best way to identify the correction you need for reading vision. Your eyes tend to adjust to the power quickly, which means seeing clearly at the moment may cause eye strain if worn over prolonged periods of time. If the power is too weak or too strong for you, it is common to experience dizziness, headaches, and eye irritation.

It is also worth noting that most readers carried in the department or drug stores do not typically offer any protection against UV rays, which can actually result in the sun’s rays being intensified by the magnification of the lenses of the readers. lens to make matters worse, the magnification can actually intensify the rays. Crow’s feet and cataracts await you.

How to Select the Right Over-The-Counter Reading Glasses for You

Like reading the eye chart at your eye doctor’s office, printing an at-home diopter test can help to determine the correct strength of reading glasses for you. When using an at-home diopter test, it’s important that you attempt to read the top line without wearing glasses and continue down until coming to the first line you can read clearly – this should indicate the magnification that is right for you. You can also test the vision of each eye by covering one eye at a time while reading the chart.

Another option is to use EyeQue’s Personal Vision Tracker. The Personal Vision Tracker recommends an accurate strength for reading glasses based on your age and specific results – the only difference is that the information is gathered from an at-home, self-administered test that uses the light of your smartphone to determine the correct strength for you.

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EyeQue provides users with a refractive tool which, when operated correctly,
measures the user's refractive correction. Results can be used to determine
if corrective eyewear would be beneficial.